The Year Without a Wilbur
by doodlegirll
Summary: .:Sequel to TSR:. Wilbur is determined to make this Christmas the best ever, not only for his family in the future, but for Lewis in the past as well. But when a snowstorm stands him in the past on Christmas Eve, Christmas is threatened to be ruined! R
1. The Best Ever

**Well, here it is! The sequel to TSR! -trumpet music-**

**Because of the tremendous postive feedback in my author's note, I'm going ahead and posting this now! I'll do another Christmas fic when December actually GETS here...only five more months to wait! X-)**

**Man, that plot bunny bit me, and he bit me hard! I just keep getting more and more ideas for this story! And because this is the sequel to TSR (Remember, I cried) I'll definitely be focusing a lot on this one for the time being...**

**Anywho, enjoy, and don't forget to review! I'll sic Frankie on you if you don't.**

**-Robin**

* * *

**The Year Without A Wilbur**

Summary: _Christmas around the Robinson home has always been big and fun, but this year, Wilbur is bound and determined to make it the best ever, not only for his family in the future, but also for Lewis in the past as well. But when a winter storm strands him in the past on Christmas Eve, Christmas as he knows it is threatened to be ruined! Sequel to "The School Report." _

**Chapter One/ The Best Ever**

**December 23rd, 2037 **

"Wilbur!"

The sound of his name being called made Wilbur jump.

"Wilbur!" His mother called again.

"Yeah, Mom?" He called back.

"I need you to come help me for a minute!"

Wilbur sighed and turned from the boxes of Christmas decorations in the basement and clomped up the stairs.

"Yeah, Mom?" Wilbur asked, tracing his mother's voice to the dining room. Carl was standing near the table in the center of the room, his legs extended so he could reach the big chandler in the middle of the ceiling.

"Would you do me a big favor?" Franny asked. Wilbur shrugged.

"Sure, Mom. What do you need?" He asked.

"Would you please go down to the basement and bring up the box of tinsel?" She asked. Wilbur's mouth dropped.

"Mom, I was just down there! Couldn't you have told me to do it then?" He asked. Franny gave him a stern look.

"Don't sass me, boy. Now march." She said. Wilbur crossed his arms and scowled, but he did as he was told and walked back towards the basement.

"Let's see…" He said, reading the labels on the sides of the boxes. "Ornaments, wreaths, annoying singing tree that scares the crap out of people when they walk by it…"

Wilbur began to dig, finally finding the tinsel at the bottom of a box of the many wreaths Franny liked to decorate each doorway in the house with. He gathered all of it up in a ball and climbed the stairs, walking back to the dining room.

"Here you go, Mom." Wilbur said, dumping the huge pile of tinsel onto the table. Small gold, silver, green, red, and purple bits of the shiny plastic clung to his trademark Captain Time Travel t-shirt and to the dark navy blue sleeves of the long sleeved t-shirt he wore under it.

"Thank you." Franny said, gently untangling the tinsel, handing a long strand of it to Carl. "Would you go find your father and tell him we need the tree un-shrunk, please?"

Wilbur sighed again. "Sure, Mom." He said, brushing the bits of tinsel from his shirt.

"Oh, and be sure to knock. Dr. Robinson locked it so no one can see what he's up to in there!" Carl said.

"Thanks, Carl." Wilbur said.

Wilbur walked down the hall and turned left, walking under the two staircases that led up to Lefty's room and past the garage door. Wilbur couldn't help but grin slyly as he passed the garage door.

Wilbur was determined to make this Christmas the best ever. Christmas around the Robinson house had always been fun and awesome, but this year was going to be the best, Wilbur could feel it.

But it wasn't the thought of the best Christmas ever that brought the sly smile to his face. It was the plan he had for tomorrow.

Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and Wilbur had plans to take the time machine and go back to Christmas Eve 2007 to visit Lewis in the past. That's why he had been in the basement. He had been looking for the family Christmas albums. He wanted to show Lewis what his future Christmases were going to be like, and he had plans to take his camera with him to get pictures to add.

Wilbur knew he would most likely get into big trouble for taking the time machine again, but at that moment, he didn't care. He had, after all, gotten off the hook when he had been stranded in 2007 a little over six months ago (for him, in 2037; seven months for Lewis's time) after the school bully Nash had stolen the time machine, used it to come to the future and meet his future self, Nasher, and steal the green time machine and use it to get revenge on Lewis.

Wilbur knocked on the lab door. He heard his dad scuffle around in the lab as if to hide something. "Who is it?" Cornelius called.

"Dad, it's me." Wilbur said. "Mom needs the tree un-shrunk."

"Alright, I'll be down in a minute." Cornelius said. "Could you get Carl for me?"

"Yep." Wilbur said. "Just hurry up, okay? You know how Mom gets about the tree!"

Wilbur walked back to the dining room, where Carl was still draping tinsel on the chandler.

"Carl, Dad needs you in the lab." Wilbur said.

"What, now?" Carl asked, looking down at Wilbur, who nodded.

Carl sighed and shortened his legs.

"Sorry, Mrs. Robinson, I'd better go see what he wants." Carl said.

"That's alright, Carl. Wilbur can help me."

Carl nodded and walked out of the dining room, whistling Jingle Bells as he did.

"Uh, Mom," Wilbur said. "How am I supposed to help you if I can't reach the chandler?"

"You use the Lev-Stairs." Franny said, handing him the box of Lev-Stairs. Wilbur sighed for at least the fiftieth time that day and took the box, taking one of the levitation steps from the box and activating it, placing it near the floor. He climbed on top of the step, then activated another one, placing it above the first one. He continued to do so until he reached the chandler. He walked back down with the remaining Lev-Stairs still in the box.

Franny handed him a strand of green tinsel. Wilbur took it and climbed the suspended stairs again.

"Okay, now, a little to the left." Franny conducted once Wilbur had reached the chandler again. Wilbur started to drape the tinsel over the crystals, making the room light up as thought there was an old-fashioned disco ball in the center of the ceiling instead of a tinsely chandler. "Alright, a little more." Franny said.

Wilbur stood on his tiptoes, reaching as far as he could to the left.

"Almost there." Franny said. She saw that her son was having to stand on his tiptoes to reach the spot where she wanted the tinsel. "Careful, now!" She said.

Her warning came too late. Wilbur lost his footing and slipped from the Lev-Step. He grabbed the chandler and held on for dear life.

"Hold on, Wilbur!" Franny said. "Cornelius! Carl! Come quick!" She screamed.

Cornelius and Carl came running into the dining room.

"Franny, what is it?" Cornelius asked.

"Dad, a little help here!" Wilbur said as a response. Cornelius looked up.

"Wilbur!" He said.

"Don't just stand there; help me!" Wilbur said. He could feel his fingers slipping.

"Hold on, little buddy." Carl said, extending his legs up to the thirteen year old. "I've got you."

Wilbur let go of the chandler and fell onto Carl's shoulders, breathing a sigh of relief as he did.

"Phew, that was close!" He said, looking back at the chandler, which swayed back in forth after being relieved of Wilbur's weight, the crystals tinking together. Wilbur hopped from Carl's shoulders as soon as the robot was near the floor again.

"That was close!" Franny said. "But thank goodness it wasn't as bad as it could have been!"

"Are you alright, son?" Cornelius asked. Wilbur nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay." He said.

"Good." Cornelius said. "Carl, you stay here and help Franny. Me and Wilbur'll go get the tree and un-shrink it."

"Aye, aye, chief." Carl said. Cornelius motioned for Wilbur to follow him. The two walked out of the dining room.

"Now I know why you had Carl have extendable legs!" Wilbur said. "To help Mom with the Christmas decorations!"

Cornelius laughed. "Pretty much." He agreed.

The two descended down the stairs to the basement. Open boxes of Christmas decorations were scattered in a horseshoe like shape on the floor in the far right corner at the back of the basement. Wilbur had been looking for the family albums since morning, and he still had yet to find them, having at least ten more boxes to go through.

Cornelius walked over to the box that had "Tree Ornaments" printed in bold letters on the side. He dug around in it for a minute, finally pulling out a smaller box.

"Ah, here it is." He said.

The Shrinkable Christmas Tree was just another one of Cornelius's brilliant inventions. He had invented it for the people who used a fake tree every Christmas and didn't like having to put up the tree according to color code. It was pre-assembled and pre-lit. All one had to do was add a drop of water, and bam! Instant Christmas tree!

"Say, Dad," Wilbur said as he and his father climbed the stairs back to the living room. "What have you been working on no one's allowed to see?"

Cornelius laughed and ruffled his son's hair, something Wilbur hated. "If you think I'm going to tell you, you're crazy." He said.

"Aw, c'mon, Dad, just a hint?" Wilbur begged.

"Nope." Cornelius said. He had never been easily swayed by his son's constant begging.

"Please?" Wilbur said. "At least tell me who it's for!"

"Not telling you that, either. You'll find out on Christmas Morning. But I can guarantee you this," Cornelius said. "Whoever this thing is for, they'll love it, I promise you."

Wilbur huffed out a breath. _Dang_. He thought.

Cornelius sat the tree down on the floor in front of the garage door, it's traditional place. He took an eyedropper from the box and dropped a small drop of water onto the top of the tree. Within seconds, the tree grew to the top of the staircases that led to Lefty's room, the tip just a bit taller.

"Now we just have to decorate it." Wilbur said. "You know, you really should have installed instant ornaments in that thing!"

Cornelius shrugged. "I tried, believe me." He said, shaking his head. "But it just didn't work out. It grew everything from starfish to cups of blue cheese, but no matter what I did, I could never get it to grow ornaments." He grinned. "Besides, your mother and grandmother really enjoy decorating it."

Wilbur grinned back. "That's for sure!" He agreed. Cornelius ruffled his son's hair again.

"Come on," He said. "We might as well go on and get the box of ornaments."

►▲▼◄

"Cornelius, are you sure this is a good idea?" Franny asked much later that night after the rest of the Robinson family had gone to bed. Cornelius finished tightening a bolt on whatever it was he was working on and stood up, brushing himself off.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Franny." He assured her. "Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you!" Franny said. "It's just that something about this screams "bad idea" to me."

Cornelius smiled and kissed his wife's forehead. "I'm sure it'll be fine." He said. "Now come on, it's getting late. And tomorrow's a big day. It is Christmas Eve, after all."

Franny smiled and nodded.

"You're right." She said. Cornelius flipped off the lights to the lab and he and Franny walked down the stairs just as a light snow began to fall outside.

* * *

**'Kay, guys, what do you think the mystery invention Franny's skeptical about is? Any ideas? All will be reveiled later ;-)**

**-Robi**


	2. Unexpected Surprises

**Well, here's chapter two, guys! I'm loving this story...**

**I actually got a good answer to the true meaning of "Christmas in July" today. I went into the Hallmark Store here in town, and you'll never believe what they already have on display! The Christmas Ornaments! Now that I think back on it, I wish I had stopped for a minute to see if they had anything MTR related...but I didn't, and I don't have a time machine, so there's no going back now!**

**And for those of you who guessed as to what Cornelius's mystery invention is, all I can say is this: -looks around nervously- YOU KNOW NOTHING! -manical laughter, eye twitch-**

**-regains composure- Ahem...anyway, don't forget to review! -smiles innocently-**

**-Robin**

* * *

**Chapter Two/ Unexpected Surprises**

**December 24th, 2037 **

**2:37 AM **

Unbeknownst to his parents, Wilbur was actually wide-awake. He was in the basement, still looking for the family albums. If he wanted to pull off his little plan, he would have to do it before everyone else was up, and that meant sneaking out of bed to find the family albums, not to mention sacrificing many precious hours of sleep. He yawned sleepily and continued on with his search.

"Come on; they've got to be somewhere!" Wilbur said out loud as he rummaged through a box marked 'Rugs.'

Wilbur had been through at least thirty of the forty-five (Franny kept a close count for some reason) Christmas boxes, and he still hadn't found them.

Just as Wilbur was about to give up, he finally reached the bottom of box number forty-two, revealing what he had been looking for since yesterday morning.

"_Finally_!" Wilbur said, pulling the thick family album from the box and setting it down on the floor. He opened it to the first page, which showed a picture of Lewis, Lucille, and Bud on the first Christmas they had ever spent together. Wilbur grinned and flipped through the album nostalgically for a few minutes, remembering small bits and pieces from a few of the pictures.

Wilbur glanced at his watch, and let out a small yelp. It was almost three fifteen!

Wilbur grabbed the family album, slapping it shut. His bare feet made almost no sound as he lightly clomped up the stairs. He tucked the family album under his arm and turned the handle to the basement door slowly, so as to not make any noise. He poked his head out and glanced around, making sure no one was awake, then swiftly slipped into the hallway, closing the door gingerly behind him. He let out a silent sigh of relief, then began to sprint towards his door.

Suddenly, just as he passed the garage door, a loud, familiar, annoying voice caused him to jump nearly out of his skin as it began to sing "Holly Jolly Christmas" as loud as it possibly could.

"Ah!" Wilbur yelped, covering his mouth before it came out all the way. He dropped the family album and ran over to Chris the Singing Christmas Tree and picked him up, frantically trying to shut it up.

"No, no, no, no, no, no! Please shut up!" Wilbur begged the tree, which continued to sing. Wilbur turned it over, feeling the bottom for the "off" switch. He finally found it, and let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, the hallway where everyone else's room was located lit up, and light spilled into the living room. He heard voices coming his way. Wilbur placed Chris the Singing Christmas Tree back on the little podium he always sat on, ran to the family album, picked it up, and ran into his room as fast as he possibly could. He clenched the album close as he hit the button on his wall that would take him to the second level of his room and dove into bed. He covered himself up, pretending to be asleep. He heard voices coming from the living room, then his door opening and someone hitting the button on the wall. Wilbur held his breath as he heard the platform lower, then rise again.

"No, he's asleep, Franny." He heard Aunt Billie's accented voice whisper in the dark.

"Hm…maybe it just a glitch or something." Franny said back.

"Could be. Or maybe Buster set it off." Billie suggested as she hit the button again. Wilbur let out the air he had been holding in after Billie and Franny closed his door.

"That was close." He whispered in the dark. He threw the covers off and sat up in bed, making sure the family album was all right. Once he was sure it was all in one piece, he gently shoved it under his mattress.

"Note to self," He whispered as he settled in for the night. "Kill Chris the Singing Christmas Tree."

►▲▼◄

The next morning, bright and early, Wilbur got up. It was still dark outside when he quickly dressed in his winter clothes, ensuring everyone else was still asleep. He grabbed his backpack, stuffed the family album into it, and silently snuck out the door.

He crept silently towards the garage door, his eyes never leaving Chris the Singing Christmas Tree.

Suddenly, Chris the Singing Christmas Tree's eyes opened and he began to sing. Wilbur lunged, grabbing the annoying tree by the trunk. He quickly switched him off, opening the bottom and stuffing the batteries into his pocket. He tugged the plug from the socket in the wall, placing Chris the Singing Christmas Tree innocently back on the podium as if he hadn't been touched.

"That should keep you quiet." Wilbur muttered as he walked towards the front door, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Because of the Christmas tree in his way, he would have to take the side door to the garage. He grabbed his coat on his way, zipping it up and his earmuffs, too. He then opened the door, stepping out into the cold, Christmas air. There were at least five inches of snow on the ground, and snow still fell lightly as he made his way around the house, the snow crunching softly under his Converse shoes, clinging to his pants leg cuffs.

Wilbur placed his hand on the hand scanner next to the door.

"Welcome back, Wilbur Robinson." It said as Wilbur turned the doorknob and stepped inside, making sure he closed the door behind him. He walked over to the red prototype time machine and climbed in, putting his backpack in the backseat. He revved up the engine and set it's coordinates to Christmas Eve, 2007, eleven AM.

"I hope Lewis is up." He said as he lifted off into the sky.

►▲▼◄

**December 24th, 2007 **

**10:49 AM **

Lewis grinned as he ran along the snow-covered road towards home. Christmas carols like "Do You Hear What I Hear" drifted gently through the air, and a light snow fell.

It was Lewis's first Christmas as a Robinson. All his life, he had been just plain Lewis on Christmas, but for the first time in his almost-thirteen years, he wasn't "just plain Lewis" anymore – He was Cornelius Lewis Robinson.

Lewis smiled again thinking about it. He had just gotten back from saying Merry Christmas to Mildred at the orphanage, where he had discovered that five adoptions had been finalized that week alone, which was wonderful news.

Lewis stopped momentarily to catch his breath. The reason why he was in such a hurry to get home was because his parents were going to pick up the Christmas tree after he got home, which gave him just enough time to finish wrapping the gifts he had for them – Double Espresso Extract for Lucille for her caffeine patches, and a small tracking devise that would help Bud find his teeth whenever they went missing again.

Lewis was so distracted thinking about everything that he didn't see the boy until they were both spread out eagle-spread in the snow. Lewis groaned and rubbed his head, grabbing his glasses from the snow and wiping them off as best he could with his wet gloves. His eyes came into focus behind the wet frames and he could finally make out the face of the dark-haired boy he had run into, who had stood up and was brushing the snow from his black winter coat and brushing his gloves together.

"You know, if you're not careful, you're going to get hit by a bus, thus wiping me from existence." Wilbur said, grinning. He held out his hand and Lewis grinned as Wilbur helped him to his feet in the slippery snow.

"Yeah, you're probably right." He agreed, brushing himself off. "What are you doing here? Is there something wrong again?" Wilbur shook his head.

"Nope." He said. "Just thought I might drop by and say hi and Merry Christmas to my best friend while I was in this time period."

"You're really going to screw up one day, you know that?" Lewis said.

"Well hopefully that day won't be today." Wilbur said. "Let's just get to your house, okay? It's cold out here, and I've got something to show you."

"Well, alright." Lewis said. "But where did you park the time machine?"

"The park, like last time." Wilbur said. "No one saw me, and we don't have to worry about that Nash kid stealing it again…do we?"

Lewis shook his head. "Just as Nasher said, they moved three weeks after school was let out."

"Good." Wilbur said as they walked off towards the Robinson house. Neither of them noticed, but it had begun to snow harder, filling their footprints almost as fast as they could lift their feet and move on.

* * *

**Unlike TSR, I actually seperated this one into actual chapters. TSR was actually just one long story with my little futuristic triangles seperating each part...**

**Anyway, review!**

**-Robin**


	3. All's Fair in Love and War

**Here's chapter three! **

**I'm seriously loving this story. Not only does it put me in a good mood, but it also gives me a good, locial excuse for my parents to listen to Christmas carols even though it's only July!**

**Anywho, enjoy!**

**-Robin**

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**Chapter Three/ All's Fair in Love and War **

**December 24th, 2007 **

**11:11 AM **

Lewis and Wilbur ran up the front steps of the Robinson home, having finally realized that it was, in fact, snowing harder. They didn't think too much of it. After all, it _was_ December.

"Mom, I'm home!" Lewis called as he quickly opened and closed the door. "And I brought a friend!"

"Really?" Lucille said, emerging from the kitchen with a tray of steaming Christmas cookies. "Who?"

"Hi, Mrs. Robinson." Wilbur said, grinning.

"Well, hello, Wilbur!" Lucille said. She sat the tray of cookies down and engulfed Wilbur in a huge hug that Wilbur was sure would break his back. "How did the move go?"

"Um, Mrs. Robinson, could you let me go? I can't breathe." Wilbur said.

"Oh, sorry!" Lucille said, stepping back. Wilbur breathed deeply for a minute before answering Lucille's question.

"As good as moves go, I guess." He said.

Lucille nodded. "How long are you in town for, Wilbur?"

"Just today. I thought I might stop by and say hi to Lewis." Wilbur said.

Lucille smiled and nodded. "It's good to see you again, Wilbur." She said. She turned to Lewis. "Your father and I are about to go get the tree. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

Lewis nodded. "I'm sure, Mom. I have a couple things to do."

"Alright, then." Lucille said. "Dear, we should get going!" She called to Bud, who was in the kitchen.

"Eh, alright." Bud said, coming out of the kitchen. "Oh, hello, Wilbur! Haven't seen you in a while!"

"Hi, Mr. Robinson." Wilbur said. "Yeah, it has been a while."

"Eh, we'll back in about an hour or so, 'kay, boys?" Bud said. Lewis and Wilbur nodded.

"See you then!" Lewis said. Lucille and Bud grabbed their coats, put on their gloves and hats, and walked out the door.

"What is it you're wanting to show me?" Lewis asked as he and Wilbur began to pull off their own coats.

"You'll see." Wilbur said, grinning.

No sooner had the boys hung up their coats when the phone rang. Lewis ran into the kitchen, picked up the cordless phone, and hit the talk button.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Lewis, it's Mom." Came Lucille's cheery voice.

"Hi, Mom. Is something wrong?" Lewis asked.

"No, there's nothing wrong. I just now noticed that I didn't get the Christmas decorations from the garage!"

"Oh, that's okay, Mom. Me and Wilbur can go get them."

"Thank you, dear." Lucille said. "We'll be home in a little while!"

"Okay, Mom. Bye." Lewis said. He hung up the phone and turned back to Wilbur.

"Mom forgot to get the Christmas tree decorations from the garage." He said. Wilbur sighed.

"Why does this always happen to me?" He asked himself as he and Lewis pulled their coats, earmuffs, and gloves back on. The two walked out into the snowy air. Wilbur glanced temptingly at the snow-covered ground, then grinned as he picked up a handful and carefully formed it into a ball, sending it flying towards Lewis's head.

"Hey!" Lewis said as it hit him in the head, right on target. He turned to find Wilbur almost rolling on the ground laughing. Lewis slyly grinned and bent down, picking up his own handful of snow.

Wilbur didn't even see the snowball until it hit him full force in the shoulder. Man, Lewis had a good arm!

"Oh, so it's war, huh?" He asked as he bent down to get another snowball. Before he could even make a proper one, another flew through the air and hit him in the head.

"Apparently, yes." Lewis said.

It was all out war from there. When Wilbur threw a snowball at Lewis, Lewis sent one back, though neither of them, being the food-fighters they were, got hit very many times.

Lewis, having been a Robinson for ten whole months already, had actually grown quiet accustomed to having to dodge fast, not only from playing dodgeball against Nash Sinclair, but from the "Robinson Nightly Food Fights", too, and Wilbur noticed when he got hit more by Lewis's snowballs than Lewis did with his.

"Wow, you've gotten good!" Wilbur said. Lewis grinned.

"Thanks." He said. "Now come on. We'd better get the stuff from the garage! I think it's starting to snow even harder!"

"Yeah." Wilbur agreed, looking up at the sky. Suddenly, another snowball came hurtling towards him, hitting him dead in the mouth.

"Hey!" He said, spitting out snow as he did. "That was completely _not_ fair!"

"All's fair in love and war." Lewis said. "And this is war, so it is fair."

"Not the point." Wilbur grumbled. Lewis smirked and the two walked into the garage from the side door.

"How many boxes are there?" Wilbur asked, remembering the forty-five boxes he had gone through back at home.

"Two." Lewis said, picking up a box from the corner and handing it to Wilbur. "You carry that one and I'll carry this one."

Wilbur nodded and the two carried the boxes back out into the cold air and back into the house. They sat the boxes down by the door and peeled off their coats, which were cold and damp from the snowball fight.

"Now," Lewis said, walking into the kitchen. "What was you wanted to show me?"

Wilbur grinned as he grabbed his backpack and pulled out the family album. He sat it down on the table.

"I brought you this." He said. "I've gotta take it back to the future, or Mom'll have my head, but I thought you might like to see it."

Lewis took the family album from Wilbur and began to flip through its pages. Each was littered with photographs of him and his family, and as he progressed into the book, the photos turned to hologram-like photos that moved.

"Wow. Christmas is big in the future, isn't it?" He asked.

"Yep. It's always been great, but this year I've got the feeling it's going to be the best."

"How come?" Lewis asked. Wilbur shrugged.

"I don't know." He said. "I can just feel it."

Lewis continued to turn the pages of the album. There were holograms of him and Franny when they first got married, then Wilbur's first Christmas.

"Oh, by the way," Wilbur said. "I'm begging you, please don't get Mom Chris the Singing Christmas Tree as a gift!"

Lewis grinned. "Too late, dude." He said. Wilbur groaned and buried his head in his arms.

"Fine, but don't be surprised if you wake up one Christmas to find him in a million pieces." He said. Lewis laughed.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Lewis sprang from his seat and ran to get it.

"Hello?" He said.

"Lewis?" Lucille's worried voice came over the line. "Is everything alright there?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, why?" Lewis asked.

"Well, it doesn't look like your father and I will be getting home anytime soon." Lucille said. "Is Wilbur still there with you?"

"Yeah, he's still here." Lewis said, worry etched on his face. "But why, Mom, what's – "

Before Lewis could finish his question, Wilbur interrupted.

"Uh, Lewis, you might want to come look at this."

Lewis hurried to his best friend's side, who was staring out the window.

"Why, what's…" Lewis started, but the scenery out the window said it all. Lewis's eyes widened as he realized what was going on and why his mother was so worried.

Outside, everything was white. Neither Lewis nor Wilbur could see an inch in front of the glass of the window.

They were in the middle of a snowstorm.

* * *

**We had a big ice storm this year. Amazingly, we didn't lose power, but there was a lot ice**

**Review?**

**-Robin**


	4. Snowstorm!

**Sorry about the wait, guys! I feel bad about not updating, but I had plans to last night, but I couldn't, seeing as my mother developed a migrane headache and I had to go to our local ER with her and wait in the waiting room for about four hours without my laptop...never do that again...**

**Anyway, here it is! Don't forget to review!**

**-Robin**

* * *

**Chapter Four/ Snowstorm! **

**December 24th, 2037 **

**8:52 AM **

Meanwhile, back in the future, everyone else in the Robinson family was just waking up, not realizing that Wilbur had taken the time machine and the family album on a joy ride to 2007, where he was now stranded until the snowstorm was over.

"Cornelius, I'm serious." Franny said as she and Cornelius pushed the invention over to the Cupid to shrink until Christmas morning. "I don't think this is such a good idea."

"Franny, relax." Cornelius said, smiling. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Franny sighed. "I'm sure it will, too, but I still don't think it's a great idea to be…"

Before Franny could say anything else, Cornelius covered her mouth with his hand.

"Sh!" He said. "They might hear you!"

Franny shook her head. "The family never comes up here, Cornelius!"

"I don't mean just them." Cornelius said. "I've caught our son listening in on the lab countless times in the past."

Franny sighed again. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

Cornelius smiled. "I hope so, too."

Cornelius hit the button on the Cupid that would shrink the rather large invention. Afterwards, he bent down and picked it up, holding it in the palm of his hand.

"Now to wrap it…" He said. Franny laughed and took it from the palm of his hand carefully.

"Oh no you don't!" She said. "_I'll_ do the wrapping."

Cornelius pretended to look hurt. "What, are you saying I can't wrap a good Christmas present?" He said.

Franny shook her head and smiled. "No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that…maybe…well…" She sighed in frustration at trying to find the right words. "Let's just say your wrapping looks more like it had been wrapped at one time, then opened, and then rewrapped again with a set of pliers."

Cornelius laughed. As usual, Franny was right. She was always right.

"You're right." He said. "I seem to remember a couple years ago when I got Mom that Voice Activated Coffee Maker, and Wilbur tried to help me wrap it. We were pulling tape from our hair for weeks after that!"

"I remember that." Franny said. "It was a disaster. I have pictures of that in the family album. Speaking of, I have to go get those from the basement." She turned and walked out of the lab. "And tell Wilbur if you see him I need him to help me get the rest of the Christmas decorations up!"

"Will do." Cornelius promised. It suddenly occurred to him that he in fact hadn't seen his son at all that day, which was unusual, it being Christmas Eve and what not. He was about to go and check Wilbur's room when Franny came running frantically back into the lab.

"Cornelius!" She said. "Wilbur's gone!"

"What?" Cornelius said. "Franny, calm down. What do you mean Wilbur's gone?"

"I went downstairs to get the family albums, but they were gone. So I went to see if anyone knew where they were. I went to see if Wilbur had seen them since he spent a lot of time in the basement yesterday, but he wasn't in his room, and none of the family has seen him all day!"

"Franny, calm down." Cornelius said. "Did you check the garage? He seems to like to hang out in there lately."

Franny shook her head. "No, I didn't think to." She admitted.

"Then let's go check the garage." Cornelius said, heading towards the door. He and Franny walked towards the front door, where they grabbed their jackets and walked outside.

"See, Franny, there are his footprints." Cornelius said, pointing to the hours-old footprints in the snow. A thin layer of snow covered the design imprint from the bottom of the shoe, but they were there.

Cornelius and Franny followed Wilbur's footprints to the side door of the garage. Cornelius knocked.

"Son, are you in there?" He called. When he didn't get an answer, he asked again, this time placing his hand on the scanner and opening the door as he did.

"Wilbur?" He asked, stepping inside. He glanced around for the teenager, then froze.

"Oh no." He said.

"What is it?" Franny asked, stepping in and looking around. Cornelius walked towards the empty spot where the prototype time machine was supposed to sit.

"The prototype time machine is gone! Wilbur must have taken it again!" Cornelius said.

"Where would he have gone?" Franny asked.

"Where do you think? Most likely to see Lewis." Cornelius said. He walked over to the tube that would take him back to the living room, Franny at his heels.

"Do you think he's the one who took the family album?" Franny wondered aloud. Cornelius shrugged.

"I don't know. We just need to find out where Wilbur's gone. If he went back to see Lewis, then that's fine. But if he's gone on another one of his history leaps again…"

"Say no more." Franny said. She and Cornelius stepped under the tube and found themselves in the living room, the couch that had been over the tube hole overturned. Cornelius pulled himself out of the hole, then helped Franny to do the same.

"We'll have to do a time scan for the time machine." Cornelius said as they hurried towards his lab, where they found Carl conveniently waiting for them.

"Chief!" He said to Cornelius, "Thank goodness you're here! The red time machine's gone and –"

Cornelius held up a hand to stop him.

"I know." He said. "I just need to do a time scan."

Carl nodded and turned to a machine behind him.

"How long until we know?" Franny asked.

"About seven and a half minutes." Carl said, glancing over his shoulder.

"And what are we supposed to do for almost eight minutes?!" Franny demanded.

"Franny, calm down." Cornelius said. "I'm sure wherever Wilbur is, he's fine."

Franny sighed. "I hope you're right, Cornelius." She said.

"Come on, let's just go ask the family if they have any idea where he might have gone."

Franny nodded and the two walked out, leaving Carl to finish the scan.

They walked into the living room, where the rest of the family was getting ready for Christmas Day the next day.

"Franny, I got the rest of the Christmas decorations from the basement." Cousin Laszlo said. "Did you find the family albums?"

Franny shook her head. "No. The prototype time machine is gone, and so is Wilbur, so we figured that maybe he took them."

The family's eyes widened. The last time Wilbur had taken the time machine, he had been stuck in 2007 for eight days! Hadn't that taught him anything?

"Where did he go?" Aunt Billie asked.

"We think he went back to see Lewis, but we're not sure." Cornelius said. "Carl's doing a scan right now."

"He is in so much trouble when I get my hands on him!" Franny said under her breath.

"Don't go and hurt the kid, Fran." Uncle Gaston said. "If he went to see Lewis, then I doubt he's doing anything he shouldn't be."

"Other than taking the time machine, you mean." Franny said. She looked at Cornelius.

"Do you think Carl is done?" She asked.

Cornelius shrugged. "We can always go and see."

Before they could turn to walk to the lab, however, Carl came running down the stairs into the living room.

"I have the results of the scans." He said.

"That was _not_ seven and a half minutes!" Cornelius and Franny said together.

"I was estimating!" Carl said. He handed Cornelius a slip of paper, who's eyes scanned it quickly.

"He's in 2007, just like we said." He said. Franny and the rest of the Robinsons let out a sigh of relief.

"But that's not all." Carl said, almost nervously. "He's kinda, well…stuck there."

"What?!" The Robinsons gasped together.

"Did the time machine break down or something again?" Cornelius asked. "Nash moved, and I erased his memory with the Blink, so I don't…"

Carl cut him off. "No, it's not broken. It's just that…"

"It's just that what, Carl?" Franny said. "Why is Wilbur stuck in the past again?"

"Well, according to the scan's weather data, he's in the middle of a huge snowstorm." Carl said, again sounding nervous.

Franny's mouth hung agape for a minute, then she narrowed her eyes and turned towards the door. "I'm going after him." She said.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Franny." Lucille said. "I remember that snowstorm. It was a bad one."

Bud nodded. "Eh, we were stuck at Doodle's, weren't we?" He asked Lucille, mentioning the restaurant where he and Lucille had taken refuge from the storm.

"I think so." Lucille said. She turned back to Franny. "I'm sure Wilbur's with Lewis, don't worry."

"But what if he's not?" Franny said, biting her lip and wringing her jacket in her hands. "What if he didn't make it to your house?"

"Franny, we can't start thinking about the worst." Cornelius said, trying to calm her down. "I'm sure Wilbur's fine." He turned to Carl. "Where was the time machine?"

"In the park. Wilbur arrived at eleven AM, and the storm started around eleven thirty-five." Carl said.

"See, Franny? That's plenty of time for Wilbur to make it to the house!" Cornelius said. Franny took a deep breath.

"I'm sure you're right." She said.

"Of course I'm right." Cornelius said, smiling. "When have a never **not** been right?"

"Well, there was that time with the chemicals in high school…" Bud said.

"And the first time machine prototype." Cousin Tallulah added.

"And that time when you tried to make the universal remote." Uncle Joe said.

Cornelius sighed. "Alright, I get the point." He said.

"And besides," Franny said, having finally calmed herself down to the point where she could smile at least a little. "I'm the one who's always right, remember?"

Cornelius laughed. "How could I forget."

"And I'm sure that Wilbur will come straight home once the storm is over." Lucille said. "Don't worry. Why don't you do something to get your mind off of things?"

Franny nodded and sighed. "I guess I could have Frankie run the rendition of Sleigh Ride I composed…" She said. She turned from her family and walked back to the music room. "Let me know if that storm gets any worse, Carl. If it does, I'm going to the past!"

Carl looked at Cornelius. "Should I tell her?"

Cornelius shook his head. "No, I wouldn't."

"Cornelius, what are we going to do?" Lucille asked once everyone else had gone about their Christmas business.

"Wait." Cornelius said. "That's all we can do."

►▲▼◄

**December 24th, 2007 **

**11:43 AM **

"Lewis, are you there?" Lucille asked into the phone. Lewis brought the phone back up to his ear.

"Yeah, I'm still here, Mom. Are you and Dad all right? The weather's awful out there!"

"We're fine. We stopped at Doodle's Café when it got too bad a couple minutes ago." Lucille said. "Are you and Wilbur going to be fine?"

"We'll be fine, Mom. I'm sure nothing's going to go –"

But before Lewis could even finish his sentence, the lights flickered and went out, the phone dead.

"Wrong." Lewis finished.

* * *

**Yes, I took the seven and a half minutes part from the videogame...well, we know where Wilbur gets it now!**

**-Robin**


	5. A Daring Trek

**I know it's short...sorry...but this seemed like a good spot to leave off!**

**Review?**

**-Robin**

* * *

**Chapter Five/ A Daring Trek **

**December 24th, 2007 **

**11:45 AM **

"You stand corrected." Wilbur said.

Lewis sighed and hung up the phone. "So I see." He said.

Wilbur began to pace. "What about the time machine?" He asked. "We have to go and get it back here!"

Lewis looked like he wanted nothing more in the world than to knock Wilbur's head. "Wilbur, are you nuts?!" He demanded. "We can't go out there!"

"But how in the world am I gonna get home without it?!" Wilbur demanded right back.

Lewis shook his head. "You're just going to have to stay here until the storm is over."

Wilbur sighed in frustration. Lewis was right.

"Come on." Lewis said, waving his hand in the direction of the doorway. "It's going to get cold in here, and fast. We need to go start the fireplace up so we can at least sleep there if we have to."

Wilbur nodded. "I hope you've got firewood!"

Lewis suddenly paled.

"You _do _have firewood in the house don't you?" Wilbur said. Lewis just shook his head, the same expression of realization still plastered on his face.

"Dad and I were supposed to get it after they got back so we could light it after we finished with the tree!" He said. Wilbur slapped his forehead, mumbling something.

"We have to hurry and get some of the firewood in!" Lewis said as he ran for the coat closet to get more hats, gloves, sweaters, and scarves. They would need them.

Wilbur and Lewis frantically scrambled into the extra sweaters, their coats, earmuffs, hats, scarves, and gloves. Lewis dragged out a pair of Bud's boots, and Wilbur quickly thrust his feet into them.

"We'll have to use the backdoor!" Lewis said as he ran for the back of the house. "It's the closest one to the firewood pile!"

"We have a backdoor?!" Wilbur asked.

"The wood pile's about thirty feet directly in front of us." Lewis said. He handed Wilbur the end of a scarf. "Hold onto that! If you don't, we could get separated!"

Wilbur gulped, then nodded. He grasped the scarf end tightly as Lewis opened the door. The screen door slammed instantly against the side of the house from the force of the wind blowing against it.

Lewis bent his head against the wind and started walking slowly towards the spot where he knew the woodpile was located. He couldn't see an inch in front of him, but he knew where he was going.

Lewis was almost hauled down into the snow when Wilbur tripped behind him.

"Are you okay?" Lewis yelled over the roar of the wind howling.

"Yeah!" Wilbur said. "The snow's getting deeper and I just lost my footing!"

"We're almost there!" Lewis called back as Wilbur picked himself up and tugged on the scarf to let Lewis know he was still there. "Not too much farther ahead!"

Lewis's foot bumped into something and he bent down to feel whatever it was. It was the woodpile.

"Wilbur, I found it!" Lewis called and Wilbur tugged on the scarf to let him know he had heard him, and he hadn't gotten lost.

"Great!" He said. Lewis bent down and gathered as much firewood as he could and piled them into Wilbur's arms. Then he did the same again, carrying his own bundle. He took the lead again, the scarf still clenched tightly in his hand.

Lewis tried to follow his and Wilbur's footsteps, but even though they had only been made just seconds and minutes ago, they were already filled with snow. This storm was by far more worse that either of them could have imagined.

The boys finally reached the backdoor, throwing it open. They stumbled in, dropping the wood near the door.

"Are you alright?" Lewis puffed. Ice crystals clung to his and Wilbur's clothing. Wilbur nodded.

"Good. There's more wood out there. A lot more, and from the looks of things, we're going to need just about all of it."

Wilbur shivered slightly. Even though he and Lewis both were dressed in layers, he was already freezing. Lewis took his end of the scarf again and the two set out on the trek again. They retraced their steps as best they could and found the woodpile again, then proceeded to pile as much as they could into their arms, then started out for the door again.

"I think one more trip should do it!" Lewis said as he and Wilbur dumped the second trip's wood next to the door.

"I hope so." Wilbur said. "It's only getting worse out there!"

Lewis nodded. "Ready?" He asked. Wilbur nodded and took his end of the scarf again.

"Ready." He said.

"We have to hurry with this trip! The house is getting colder faster from us having the door open."

Wilbur just nodded again and the two set out once more into the blundering storm. The two stumbled multiple times from the deepening snow, but soon found their footing again and continued on.

"I was right!" Lewis called as he bent down to pick up the last of the woodpile. "This is all that's left!"

"How long do you think it'll last?" Wilbur asked.

"If we conserve it, a day or so at least." Lewis said. "Let's just hope the storm doesn't last that long!"

"Yeah." Wilbur agreed. "Tomorrow's Christmas Day! And you guys are bound to have noticed me missing in the future by now!"

"We'll talk about that later." Lewis said as he shoved the wood at Wilbur. "Right now we just need to get this in the house and get that fire lit!"

He quickly took the lead again, tugging on the scarf. Wilbur tugged back.

Lewis threw open the door and poured his armload of wood onto the pile they had constructed.

"Wilbur, close the door!" He said. When the door wasn't closed, he turned around. "Wilbur, I said to –"

He froze when he realized that his son wasn't standing behind him as he had previously thought. The red scarf hung limp in his hand.

Lewis then realized that Wilbur must have accidentally let go of the scarf somewhere between the woodpile and the house, and his best friend was now lost to the storm outside.

* * *

**That CAN'T be good...**

**-Robi**


	6. Disaster, Averted?

**I am so so so so so so so so so so SO sorry this is short! But this is all I have for this chapter!**

**Here's the next chappie! Enjoy!**

**-Robin**

**PS- Heh...noticed I didn't center the first part...but it's fixed now!**

* * *

**Chapter Six/ Disaster – Averted? **

**December 24th **

**12:23 PM **

"Wilbur!" Lewis exclaimed as he ran back out the open door into the blizzard. "Wilbur!" He called over the raging storm.

Lewis's only reply was the sound of the wind howling past his ears.

"Wilbur!" He called frantically. He began to tread as fast as he possibly could back towards the spot where the woodpile had once stood, calling for his son to answer him as he did.

Suddenly, Lewis's foot hit something soft and he fell forward into the snow with an "Oof!" He looked over his shoulder to see Wilbur lying on his side in the shin-deep snow.

"Wilbur!" Lewis cried as he scrambled to his feet and hurried to Wilbur's aid. He began to gently shake his best friend. "Wilbur, wake up!"

Wilbur moved a little. "Lewis?" He asked, his otherwise endless energy gone.

Lewis quickly began to dig Wilbur from the snow. He had to get him out, and fast. With the storm only getting worse and the temperatures plummeting, hypothermia was sure to set in fast if he didn't.

"What happened?" He asked, not really expecting an answer.

"I accidentally tripped and let go of the scarf." Wilbur said. "And I was so cold I couldn't get up."

Lewis was done digging by then. He got up as quickly as he could in the slippery snow and hoisted Wilbur to his feet.

"We have to get you in the house!" Lewis said. He and Wilbur slowly but surely walked back towards the house. "We have to get you warm again!"

After about a minute, Lewis and Wilbur stumbled into the house. Lewis shoved the door closed and locked it as fast as he could while Wilbur stood shivering in the hallway.

"T-t-t-thanks, D-d-d-d-d-dad." Wilbur said, grinning his usual cocky grin, signaling he was going to be okay.

Lewis just grabbed a couple logs from the pile and started for the living room. "Get out of your wet snowsuit. We have to get you and the house warmed up again." He said. He could already see his breath every time he exhaled. He quickly threw the log into the fireplace and lit a match, also throwing that in. He grabbed the quilt from the back of the couch and threw it to Wilbur as he walked in the door.

"Thanks." Wilbur said as he wrapped up. Lewis just nodded and grabbed himself a blanket.

"Man, I wish the power wasn't out. I could sure go for a cup of hot chocolate!" Wilbur said after seating himself on the floor. Lewis just nodded and sat on the floor next to him.

"You and me both." He said, glancing out the window. "That storm sure got bad fast."

"I know." Wilbur said. He looked thoughtful for a minute, then started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Lewis asked. "You just had a run in with death in that storm, so what's so funny about it?"

"Oh, nothing." Wilbur said, grinning. "It's just that why is it that every time I come back here I either always get grounded, hurt, or stranded?"

Lewis grinned back. "That is an excellent question!"

"Hey, that's _my_ line!" Wilbur said. "Just because you're my dad and my best friend doesn't mean you can steal _my_ line!"

"Sure it does." Lewis said.

Wilbur just punched him playfully in the arm. He looked around the room for a minute.

"Hey, where's the family album? Did you leave it back on the table?"

Lewis nodded. "I'll go get it."

He got up and walked into the kitchen, wishing he had brought his blanket as he did. He grabbed the family album from the table and carried it back to the living room.

"Here." He said, handing it to Wilbur, who opened it.

"Thanks." He said. "Ah, here it is!"

"Here's what?" Lewis asked. Wilbur pointed to a picture in the album.

It was the picture of Lewis, Lucille, and Bud on their first Christmas together, standing in front of their Christmas tree, which was supposed to have been taken that day.

"That picture was supposed to have been taken today." Wilbur said. "But…you get it."

Lewis nodded and looked back at the album for a minute. He began to flip through it, getting a small glimpse of what was yet to come.

The pictures went from plain old photographs to animations. One showed him his and Franny's first Christmas together, then Wilbur's first Christmas.

"Hey Wilbur," He said when he got to a picture of him and his family all lined up in a line outside a church as snow fell. "Why do you look so sick in this picture?"

"Oh, that was Joe and Billie's wedding. I had a little too much cake, let's just put it that way…" Wilbur said.

"How much is 'a little'?" Lewis asked.

"Uh…eight slices?" Wilbur said with a guilty grin. Lewis just rolled his eyes and continued to flip through the album. He could tell by each picture he saw that his future Christmases indeed looked bright. He finally flipped back to the first page and looked at it a minute. Something was…different…about it, though he couldn't put his finger on it right away.

"Oh no." He said when he realized what it was.

"What?" Wilbur asked. "Did you see the picture of you in the Chicken Costume? Cause if you did it totally wasn't –"

"No, look!" Lewis interrupted, pointing to the picture. "The picture changed! The Christmas tree is gone!"

Wilbur's eyes widened when he saw it.

"Oh crap…" He said. He quickly snatched the album away from Lewis and began to flip through it. Half the pictures – the ones that were of him and his family decorating the Christmas tree – were gone. "This can't be good."

* * *

**Yikes! Christmas in the future is about to be changed!**

**Review?**


	7. The Orange Christmas Tree

**Sorry for the wait, ya'll! **

**See, I kinda had a small run in with writer's block. But it's gone now, and I'm going to see MTR again on Saturday at our local (and by local, I mean 30 - 45 minutes away) dollar theater with my friend Mandy, so more inpiration is bound to come from that!**

**Anywho, I've also been busy with my new LiveJournal community, _robinsonws._ It's a webstory community, which means a group of people come together to write a fanfic together. My friends Sophie and Nisan and I have done that before...anyway, our story is called DORIS RETURNS, and you can read it here on FFN too! Check it out!**

**Review, please!**

**-Robin**

* * *

**Chapter Seven/ The Orange Christmas Tree **

**December 24th, 2037 **

**9:02 AM **

"_Cornelius!_"

Cornelius jumped at the sound of Franny calling to him, panic relevant in her voice. He instantly dropped the weather scans for 2007 he had been doing and ran for the living room.

"Franny, what is it?" Cornelius asked. Franny was standing in the middle of the room, right in front of where the Christmas tree used to be.

Wait, used to be?!

"What happened?" Cornelius asked. Franny shook her head.

"I don't know! I walked past it and all of sudden it's gone!" She said. "Do you think something's not right with the timestream?"

Cornelius thought for a minute, then nodded.

"I think so." He said.

"Well, what's wrong?" Franny asked.

"Because Mom and Dad were stuck at Doodle's, they weren't able to make it to the tree stand. I think it was because Wilbur showed up, and they most likely talked a minute or two with them, and when it comes to this storm, timing is the key."

"So you're saying that because Wilbur showed up and Bud and Lucille were a few minutes late in leaving, they never got the Christmas tree?" Franny said. Cornelius nodded.

"Precisely." He said.

Franny sighed. "What are we going to do, Cornelius?" She asked. Cornelius patted her back soothingly.

"Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

"I hope you're right, Cornelius. I really hope you're right."

►▲▼◄

"Because your parents never got a Christmas tree, history's been rewritten…again!" Wilbur said, hands on his head. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Why does this always happen to me?"

Lewis didn't seem to hear him. He already had a thoughtful look on his face, the one he always got when he had a brilliant idea for an invention in the future.

"What if…we substitute something _else_ for the Christmas tree?" He asked.

Wilbur considered this for a minute. Even a substituteChristmas tree was better than no tree at all!

"Alright, let's try it." He said. He glanced around the room. "But what are we going to use?"

"Well, Mom has all kinds of plants around the house we could use…" Lewis said.

"Uh, Lewis," Wilbur said. "It's called a Christmas _tree_, not a Christmas _plant_!"

Lewis sighed. Wilbur was right about that. Suddenly, Lewis brightened, and Wilbur could have sworn he saw a lightbulb hover above his dad's head.

"I know!" Lewis said, "Mom and Dad have this potted orange tree in their room! We can use that!"

Wilbur just nodded and followed Lewis through the cold hallways of the house to Lucille and Bud's room. They opened the door and spotted the little orange tree in the corner, walking over to it.

They were both taller than it was, and the oranges on it were about the size of golf balls, but it would make the perfect substitute Christmas tree. After all, desperate times called for desperate measures!

"It might look light, but trust me, it isn't." Lewis said and he bent down to pick up the pot. "You grab one side and I'll grab the other."

Wilbur nodded again and bent down, picking up the other side. He and Lewis struggled with it down the hall and back into the living room, where they placed it in a corner.

"There." Lewis said as he and Wilbur stepped back, rubbing their sore fingers.

"Quick, check the album!" Wilbur said as he and Lewis hurried over to it, opening it to the first page. The picture remained unchanged.

"Maybe we need to decorate it…" Lewis suggested. Wilbur's face brightened.

"Right!" He said as he ran for the front door. He grabbed the box with "Christmas Tree Ornaments" printed on the side. He glanced out the window for a minute and shuddered. That storm wasn't about to give up any time soon.

Wilbur quickly sat the box down on the floor and dragged out some Mardi gras beads. He draped them over the small branches of the orange tree, glancing at Lewis, telling him to do the same. Lewis shrugged and walked over to join him.

After about an hour, the two stepped back to admire their work. It actually didn't look too bad – for an orange tree Christmas tree, that is.

"Good idea, Wilbur!" Lewis said. He turned around and grabbed the family album. A huge grin made its way across his face as he saw that the picture was back to normal…only with an decorated orange tree in the background instead of a pine tree.

"Phew!" Wilbur said as he sat down on the couch. "Thank goodness the timestream is back in order!"

Lewis just nodded and looked around the room, then sighed. "C'mon, we might as well see what we can find to eat."

Wilbur grinned and followed Lewis into the kitchen, which was by far the coldest of the rooms yet. Lewis opened the refrigerator, glanced inside for a minute, then closed it.

"We're going to need something we can cook over the fire." He said. "Otherwise, we're having peanut butter and jelly."

"Whatever." Wilbur said, shrugging. His stomach growled rather loudly, and he silently prayed Lewis found something soon.

Lewis opened the pantry and pulled out what looked like a peanut jar.

"Well, here are popcorn kernels." He said. "If we put them in bowl near the fire, they should pop."

"Alright, then." Wilbur said, shrugging. He honestly could have cared less what they ate as long as they ate _something. _

Lewis shrugged and grabbed the biggest bowl he could find, carrying the bottle of kernels with him.

Lewis sat the bowl down hear the corner of the fire so that the fire wouldn't melt the plastic bowl and opened the bottle of kernels, pouring them into the bowl.

"The heat from the fire should heat the bowl enough to where they'll pop." He said.

"How long until they're done? I'm starving!" Wilbur asked.

Lewis shrugged. "I don't know. I've never popped popcorn over the fire before."

Lewis glanced outside. "We might want to go up to my lab and get my battery powered radio. It might help us know a little more about this storm."

"Good idea." Wilbur agreed. He glanced at the popcorn bowl. "Think it's a good idea to leave it here?"

"It'll be fine." Lewis said, nodding.

"Are you sure? I mean, maybe we should put a lid on it or something…" Wilbur said.

"It'll be fine. The worst thing it can do is explode." Lewis assured him. "Now c'mon, the faster we get the radio the faster we know how long this storm is going to last!"

Wilbur sighed in defeat and followed Lewis up the stairs to his lab. The lab had to be the coldest room in the house, and both boys were wishing they had brought their coats and/or blankets with them.

"It should be somewhere in my closet." Lewis said, walking over to the closet across the room. He reached up and grabbed the radio from the top shelf.

"Here it is." He said, making sure the batteries were fully charged. "It should run for about forty-eight hours on a full battery." He switched it on and a newscast started to play.

"The newly developed snowstorm doesn't look like it's going to die down soon, and on top of that, many are without power this afternoon. The storm has made temperatures plummet to below zero in some places, knocking out power, and stranding many on their way home for the holidays. One thing's for sure, folks, it's going to be a white Christmas tomorrow, if there even is a Christmas!" The radio newsman said. "We'll keep you posted. Now, here are some of everybody's favorite Christmas carols to help those stranded feel a little bit better!"

"Hm." Wilbur grunted to himself. "Small chance."

"Keep moving forward, Wilbur." Lewis said. "There's nothing we can do right now."

Wilbur just mumbled something under his breath again. Then he stopped and listened intently for a minute. "Hey, what's that sound?"

Lewis listened for a minute, trying hard to hear what it was above the roar of the wind howling above the observatory.

_Popopopopopopopopopopop!_

Both Lewis and Wilbur's eyes widened as they realized what it was.

"The popcorn!" They said together as they ran from the lab, back into the living room.

The bowl was over flooded with popcorn, and even more was spilling out all over the floor.

"Quick! Grab the bowl!" Lewis yelled and Wilbur grabbed the bowl, popcorn still spilling from it as he did. Popcorn still popped in the bottom of the bowl, but the popping stopped after about a minute. Wilbur sat the bowl down away from the fire and looked around the popcorn-ed room.

"Maybe a lid would have been a good idea after all, huh?" He asked, giving Lewis his 'I-was-right-and-you-should-have-listened-to-me-this-time look.'

Lewis just sighed in frustration and glared at Wilbur. "Alright, alright, you win!" He said, admitting defeat. "Just help me clean this mess up! After all, this _is_ our dinner…"


	8. Making Christmas Happen

**Wow, y'all, it's been nearly four months, and nearly a month otherwise! How time flies! **

**If you guys are wondering where the heck I've been for the past almost-month, the answer can be summed up in four words: six month old kitten. **

**Not only that, but it's also been your typical holiday month: shopping, wrapping, putting up the tree, sending out Christmas cards, taking Christmas pictures, etc, etc. Another reason is because school also got a little challenging, so I had to focus on that for a little while. I mean, after all, school comes first, right?**

**Anyway, so here's the chapter you've all been waiting for! I know it's a little short considering the timespan I've had to write it, but again, I've been really busy lately. I hate it when I can't update, but, well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do!**

**Anywho, enjoy, and please review! Feliz navidad!**

* * *

**Chapter Eight/ Making Christmas Happen **

**December 24th, 2007 **

**5:30 PM **

"It's your move, dude." Wilbur said, sighing with boredom. Lewis, too, sighed and picked up his black checker, jumping two of Wilbur's red ones.

"King me." He said.

Wilbur and Lewis, after having picked up every single kernel of popcorn there was, had dragged some board games from the linen closet in the hall and set them up. With nothing else to do but listen to the Christmas Carols and weather reports on the radio, it had grown quite boring pretty fast, especially for Wilbur, who had never been without power before in his life.

Wilbur set one of the black checkers he'd jumped earlier on top of Lewis's checker. He then moved his checker to a point where Lewis could jump it, getting another king. Wilbur let out a frustrated sigh.

"This is boring." He said. "How do you live with power outages?"

Lewis shrugged. "You get used to them after one or two." He said.

Wilbur just let out another huff. "Is there _anything_ we can do other than sit around playing board games?"

Lewis shook his head. "Not unless you want to go back outside in the storm." He said.

Wilbur just rolled his eyes and sighed again.

"Hey, I could use some help wrapping Mom and Dad's gifts. Think you could help me?"

Wilbur thought for a minute and nodded. "Sure." He said. Lewis grinned.

"Great!" He said. "Grab the radio and let's go."

Wilbur did as he was told and grabbed the radio, then dashed after Lewis into the cold hall. He followed his best friend up the stairs and into the lab, where Lewis walked over to the closet.

"I hid them in here." He said. "Mom and Dad hardly ever come up here in the first place, but I wanted to be sure if they did their gifts wouldn't be in plain sight."

Wilbur nodded and grinned to himself as a reminder to look in his dad's lab closet when he went on his yearly snooping trip throughout the house.

Lewis dug through his closet for a minute before he reemerged with a small shoebox in one hand. 'DO NOT OPEN' was written in big letters with permanent marker on the side, and Lewis stuck it under his arm as he grabbed the roll of wrapping paper in the corner before making his way to his desk, where he and Wilbur both set to work clearing a space amongst the piles of paper and tools.

"So what'd you get them?" Wilbur asked as Lewis opened the shoe box.

"Well, I got Mom some Double Expresso Extract for her caffeine patches and a tracking devise for Dad's teeth." Lewis answered.

"Grandpa's already lost his teeth?" Wilbur asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Lewis nodded. "He said he got them over three years ago." He said.

"Why? Grandpa's never told us before." Wilbur said. Lewis grinned.

"He said he had too much candy as a kid." He said. Wilbur grinned back.

"Sounds about like Grandpa." He said.

Lewis spread out the wrapping paper on the table, then took the box of gifts from Wilbur. He pulled out the Expresso Extracts, placing them in the middle of the wrapping paper, sizing it up with the dotted lines on the paper. Grabbing a pair of scissors from a cup in front of him, he carefully cut the paper along one of the dotted lines. Then he opened a drawer under the table and pulled out what looked like a small version of a boxing tape dispenser, but with Scotch Tape™ instead.

Wilbur's eyes grew wide when he saw it. "Uh, Lewis? Are you sure it's such a good idea to use that thing? I mean, we don't have any electricity."

Lewis cocked an eyebrow at him. "Wilbur, this doesn't use electricity." He said. "And besides, I need to try it out, not to mention it might speed things up a bit, and we're losing daylight fast."

Wilbur glanced up at the glass-dome ceiling. Snow still swirled crazily outside, and he could see that the light was beginning to fade, even if it was cloudy.

"Alright." He said, sighing. "Fire it up."

Lewis nodded and pressed a small button on the handle of the tape dispenser. Tape began to come out in perfect strips, and Lewis carefully touched it to the gift, the tape neatly seamed together the two pieces of paper.

Surprisingly, Lewis was able to finished packaging Lucille's gift without any problems, but when he got to Bud's, the tape dispenser suddenly quit working. Lewis gave a frustrated groan.

"It's jammed!" He said as he began to repeatedly press the button on the side.

Tape suddenly began shooting itself out of the dispenser at hyper-speed, sticking to everything and anything.

"Lewis, hide!" Wilbur said as he ran over and hid behind Lewis's desk. Lewis did as he was told and dropped the tape dispenser and ran to join his son behind his desk.

"What's happening?" He asked, suspecting Wilbur knew a little more about this invention than he was letting on. Wilbur peeked over the desk at the tape dispenser.

"Remember the PB&J Maker?" He asked. Lewis nodded. "Well this is another invention you've never been able to work the way it should."

"What's it do?" Lewis asked.

"It shoots out the tape until it reaches the end of the roll, then it has a habit of combusting."

Lewis's eyes widened and he quickly glanced over his desk at the dispenser. It was still shooting tape out like bullets, causing the sticky tape to stick to the walls, windows, and inventions in the room. It was almost at the end of the roll and Lewis gulped.

The small dispenser stopped moving, and for a minute Lewis thought Wilbur was wrong until it began to shake, and his eyes grew even wider.

"Hit the tile!" He said as he and Wilbur dropped to their stomachs on the floor, covering their heads with their hands. A small explosion could be heard from behind the desk, and the two stayed where they were until they were sure it was safe to move. Slowly, the boys got to their feet and ventured from behind the desk.

The place where the tape dispenser had been was smoking, and the tiled floor had been stained black from the explosion. Tape covered literally everything, and Lewis knew the cleanup would have to take til the morning to clean up.

"Man, this thing made a bigger mess than that Multi-tasker Pen!" Wilbur said, pulling a piece of tape from his hair. "Ow!"

Lewis just nodded in agreement. "We'll have to wait until the morning to clean this up." He said. "Right now we need to finish wrapping Dad's gift."

"Right." Wilbur said, nodding.

Lewis turned back to his desk and continued wrapping Bud's gift. "Maybe the tape dispenser wasn't such a good idea, huh?" He asked.

Wilbur smirked. "You've got that right!" He said. "There was one time when you and I were trying to wrap everyone's gifts with that thing, and we were pulling tape from our hair for weeks!"

"It was that bad?"

"Let's just say we were tape mummies."

Lewis laughed and finished up tying the bow around the box. "There! It's done. Now all we have to do is put them under the Christmas tree."

"Right!" Wilbur said. "Just let me grab the radio."

Just as Wilbur reached over to grab the tape-covered radio, the song it was playing ended and the radio newscaster was back.

"Well, folks, it doesn't look like that storm's letting up anytime soon! The roads are blocked, the visibility is down, the temperatures continue to fall, and hundreds are still out of power. If this continues, it looks like Christmas will have to be cancelled this year!"

Wilbur thought about what the newscaster had just said. Christmas, cancelled? No way! That couldn't happen!

Suddenly, an idea hit him, and he turned to Lewis.

"Hey, Lewis, are those boxes of Christmas decorations still by the front door?" He asked.

"Yeah, why?" Lewis said.

"I have an idea." Wilbur said. "Do you still have that ultra-power flashlight you lent me when I was stuck here a few months back?"

"Well, yeah, but what are you planning on doing with it and the Christmas decorations?"

Wilbur grinned. "We're going to make Christmas happen."

"What?"

"We're going to make Christmas happen." Wilbur repeated. "We're going to decorate the entire house so it at least _feels_ like Christmas in here! I mean, just because the power's out and we're snowed in doesn't me we can't have Christmas!"

Lewis thought about it for a minute, then nodded. "You're right." He said. "Let's do it!"

"Great!" Wilbur said. "You get the flashlight while I go drag out all the stuff we need!"

With that, Wilbur hurried out the door and down the stairs. Lewis shook his head as he headed for his closet where he kept the flashlight.  
"Something tells me we're in for a long night." He said.

►▲▼◄

**December 24th, 2007 **

**9:30 PM **

Lewis was right.

By the time he and Wilbur were done decorating the house, it was well past nine o'clock at night, and they were both beat.

When Wilbur had said they were going to make Christmas happen, he meant it. He and Lewis had spent nearly four hours hanging every single strand of tinsel and garland Wilbur could find, and they had found the Christmas tree lights and draped one strand on the orange tree while they had used the rest to line the hallways. Wilbur had plugged them in, stating that when the power came back on, the house would be well lit. Lewis had just rolled his eyes, but had agreed.

By now, both boys were exhausted as they trudged into the warm living room.

"It still doesn't look like that storm's going to clear any time soon." Lewis said as he threw another log into the fire.

"Uh uh." Wilbur agreed as he yawned. "But hey, at least we got the house decorated for when it _does_ die down!"

Lewis too nodded as he sat down. "I don't know about you, but I'm beat."

Wilbur nodded. "Oh yeah."

"I guess we should sleep in here on the floor. I've still got the sleeping bag you used when you were here last, and I can use Dad's. This is the warmest room in the house, so I think this would be the best spot."

Wilbur just yawned again and nodded.

"Alright, I'll go get the sleeping bags." Lewis said, walking out into the dark cold hallway. He shined the flashlight in front of him until he found the linen closet in the hall, where he pulled out two rolled up sleeping bags and pillows. He carried them back to the living room where he found Wilbur about to fall dead asleep where he sat near the fireplace.

"If you fall asleep there, you'll probably catch on fire!" Lewis said as he dropped the sleeping bags and pillows on the floor. "Grab one and unroll it." He said.

Wilbur did as he was told and grabbed a sleeping bag, unrolling it in front of the warming fire. His fingers were freezing after working for four hours in a cold house, even with gloves on, but they had been the cheap simple cloth gloves, so they hadn't done him nor Lewis any justice in keeping warm while decorating.

As soon as their sleeping bags were rolled out and their pillows placed at the end, both boys crawled into the bags and zipped them all the way up.

"Night, Wilbur." Lewis said.

"Night, Lewis." Wilbur answered back sleepily. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas."

With that, both boys drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Alright, so I'll TRY to update again today, but with it being Christmas Eve, I'm not really sure what we're going to do, so if I don't, I will most definitely tomorrow!**

**Merry Christmas, everyone! Don't forget to review, please!  
**

**-Robi**


	9. Christmas Day

**There are not enough words in the English language to tell you guys how _sorry _I am that it took me so long to update this story. Seriously, there aren't, and the English language has more words in its vocabulary than any other language in the world! **

**So I'm not even going to try and explain why it took me so long. ;) It would seriously take two days for me to get out all my reasons, me being sick and school being hecktic being only two of the reasons. **

**So here's the last chapter, finally! You guys have full license to kill me for not updating, but... -cowers behind her notebook- Please don't...**

**Anyway, since this is the last chapter, I'd like to thank all of my wonderful reviewers, _WilburRobinsonGurl, infinity on high, Ember411, Alisi Thorndyke, RockDiva, NobleBrokenBeauty, Reviewer, You wish you knew me, Ihaveananimeaddiction, Kilbur Robinson- MTR Addict, Secretwindow1, Stefania27, Keruseya Natsuki, CrystalEarth, Goobie Fan_**, **and** _**Jembabehunz**_ **for their awesome reviews! I'd also like to thank _SkyHighFan_ for his PMs, reminding me to keep this story up! **

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**PS- We really need to protest this whole "no making your own paragraph dividers" thing FF (dot) net has come up with. It seriously makes us all look like we don't know how to divide our stories up! -points to _The School Report_- And it makes them totally confusing to read!**

* * *

**Chapter Nine/ Christmas Day**

**Christmas Day, 2007  
****9:30 AM**

Bud and Lucille slowly but surely made their way towards the front door of their house through knee deep snow. The storm had finally stopped cold turkey around five AM that morning, but it had taken until about seven for the roads to be completely cleared, and even then the Robinsons had had to shovel their way up the hill their house sat on. Thankfully, Bud always kept a snow shovel in the trunk of the car, claiming "it might come in handy someday."

"Bud, do you think the boys are alright?" Lucille asked worriedly as the two neared the front door of their house.

"I'm sure they're fine, honey." Bud assured her. He dug around in his pocket for a minute and brought out the house key. He put the key into the lock and turned the tumblers, opening the door to a surprisingly warm and finely decorated house.

"Oh." Lucille breathed. "They decorated the house!"

"Eh, they didn't do a bad job, either!" Bud said. "They must have started a fire, too."

"But where are they?" Lucille asked.

"Why don't you go check the lab while I check around here?" Bud suggested. Lucille nodded and headed for the staircase that would take her to her son's laboratory while Bud traced the source of heat to the living room, where he found a fire going merrily in the fireplace and Wilbur and Lewis snuggled deep into their sleeping bags, fast asleep. In the corner stood the little orange tree he and Lucille had in their bedroom – usually – decorated with ornaments and garland like a Christmas tree while the small battery powered radio softly blared Christmas carols. Bud smiled and shook his head. It was no wonder these boys were exhausted. They had obviously worked hard.

"Lucille, I found them!" Bud called up the stairs. "They're down here!"

Lucille walked into the living room to join her husband and smiled at the sight of the orange Christmas tree.

"Bud, is that our orange tree?"

"I do believe it is." Bud said. He bent down and threw another log into the fire.

Lucille bent down and gently shook Lewis.

"Lewis." She said. "Lewis, wake up."

Lewis groaned and buried his face in his pillow. "Five more minutes." He said sleepily.

Lucille shook her son again. "Come on, sleepy head, it's Christmas day!" She said.

No one could argue with that logic. Lewis groaned again but sat up and rubbed his eyes, feeling around beside him for his glasses. Locating them near his pillow, he slipped them on his nose and blinked a couple times, his eyes widening at the sight of his mother hovering over him.

"Mom?" He asked. "You're home!" He looked a few feet away from him at Wilbur, who was still sound asleep. He wiggled out of his warm sleeping bag and shook Wilbur.

"Wilbur, wake up. Mom and Dad are back." He said.

Wilbur sat up and blinked the sleep away for a minute. "They're back?" He asked.

He looked towards Lucille and Bud. "That means the storm's over?"

Bud nodded. "The storm ended around five this morning, but they were just able to get the roads clear." He explained. He glanced around the room. "You boys did a good job decorating."

The boys grinned. "Thanks."

"We about froze to death putting it all up, too!" Wilbur added. "And trying to hang Christmas lights everywhere with only a flashlight for light isn't as easy as it looks!"

Bud laughed. "I'm sure it wasn't!" He said. "But I'm sure when the power comes back on it will be worth it."

No sooner had the words left Bud's mouth did the power suddenly come back on. The lights that Wilbur and Lewis had draped over the orange Christmas tree and lined the hallways with all lit up at once, casting a rainbow of colors over the whole house.

"I guess you spoke too soon!" Lucille said. "This was a great idea, you two!"

"It was actually Wilbur's idea." Lewis said. "The newscaster on the radio said Christmas might have to be canceled this year and we decided we were going to make it happen anyway by decorating the house. That, and I didn't really have much of a choice. It was either decorate the house or be bored!"

"Tell me about it." Wilbur muttered.

Bud and Lucille nodded, still smiling. Suddenly, Lucille's eyes flickered to the clock on the wall.

"Oh my, Wilbur, it's almost ten o'clock! I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you!"

"Probably." Wilbur agreed, glancing at Lewis. "I should probably get going."

"Do you want to call them?" Lucille asked. "I'm sure the phone lines are working now that the power's back on."

"No, it's okay." Wilbur said. "I'll just head over to where they're staying."

"Do you want a ride?" Bud offered. "The roads are clear, and it's still pretty cold outside. Where are your parents staying? We could drop you off."

"No!" Wilbur said quickly. "I mean, no, thanks, Mr. Robinson. I can take myself."

Bud looked at him strangely for a minute. "Alright, then." He said, giving Wilbur a grin. "You'd better get going, then!"

Wilbur nodded and grabbed his coat from the couch. "Thanks for everything!" He said.

"Wait, don't forget your backpack!" Lewis said, remembering the family albums.

Wilbur grinned nervously. "Yeah, better not forget that!" He said, walking back to the couch and grabbing the backpack.

"Oh, before you go, could you get a picture of us in front of the tree?" Lucille asked, handing Wilbur a camera. "We'll definitely want to remember our first Christmas that almost wasn't!"

Wilbur and Lewis both looked a little surprised at the fact that it was in fact Wilbur that would be the one that took the picture of Lewis, Bud, and Lucille on their first Christmas in the family album. Wilbur looked at Lewis, unsure of what to do. Lewis shrugged and Wilbur smiled.

"Sure!" He said. Lewis went over to join his parents in front of the orange Christmas tree while Wilbur fidgeted with the camera for a minute, finally finding the on button.

"OK, smile!" he said. The Robinsons all smiled and Wilbur snapped the picture.

"There you go!" He said. "Now I'd better get going."

"Not before we get a picture of you and Lewis." Lucille said. "I highly doubt this will be a Christmas we'll forget, and I'm sure you'll enjoy looking back on it one day."

Wilbur and Lewis exchanged a look that clearly said, "You have no idea." They stood together in front of the tree.

"Smile!" Lucille said. The boys both grinned, and Lewis gave Wilbur a quick set of bunny years to remember him by in the future.

"Ooh, good one!" Lucille said as she clicked the camera off.

"Bye, guys." Wilbur said as he picked up his backpack again and headed for the door.

"Bye, Wilbur!" Bud said. "Be careful out there; it's still a little slippery!"

"I will, thanks!" Wilbur called back as he shut the door behind him. He quickly jumped the steps to the house and ran down the path Lucille and Bud had cleared, finally finding the driveway.

Following the path he knew from his previous adventure in the past, Wilbur made his way towards the park, where the time machine was parked. He looked around to make sure no one was watching before stealthily slipping into the woods, where an invisible, snow covered time machine sat waiting for him.

Just as he was about to hit the button on his watch that would make the time machine appear, the sound of his name being called caused him to nearly jump out of his skin.

Wilbur turned to see Lewis running towards him through the snow.

"Lewis?" Wilbur asked. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at home with Grandma and Grandpa celebrating your first Christmas together!"

Lewis stopped in front of his future son, leaning over trying to catch his breath, which came out in white puffs of air.

"I know." He said. "But I forgot to give you this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the walkie-talkies he and Wilbur had used to communicate six months prior when he had been stranded in the past the first time.

"A walkie-talkie?" Wilbur questioned, taking it from him.

Lewis nodded. "That way, the next time you come visit, you can let us know when you get here, so we can make sure you won't get stranded again!"

Wilbur laughed. "Thanks, dude."

Lewis grinned. "Sure thing." He said. He looked at the time machine. "Nice to see this thing didn't get damaged in the storm. I'm really getting tired of fixing it for you!"

Wilbur shrugged. "Hey, the first time was your fault, and the second time was Nash's." He said in his defense.

Lewis rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He said. "Now get back to the future! I'm sure you're already in enough hot water as it is."

Wilbur groaned. "Don't remind me." He said. "See ya later, Lewis."

"Bye, Wilbur." Lewis said.

With that, Wilbur swung himself into the time machine, punched in December 25th, 2037 and lifted off into the air, disappearing above the trees.

As soon as he was sure his future son was safely on his way back to the future, Lewis turned and ran back towards his house just as Christmas carolers began to carol again.

**Christmas Day, 2037  
****8:33 AM**

Wilbur took a deep breath before stepping under the travel tube that would take him to the Robinson Mansion's lobby. He knew his parents were probably waiting for him, and he knew that they would be anything but happy about him disappearing with the time machine on Christmas Eve, even if he was only going to wish Lewis a merry Christmas.

Much to his surprise, his parents weren't waiting for him in the lobby. He cocked an eyebrow curiously as he walked into the living room, only to find his answer asleep on the couch.

Cornelius and Franny were both asleep on either couch in front of the Christmas tree. Wilbur pondered waking them up for a minute, but his natural instinct to avoid grounding as much as humanly possible won, and he tried to sneak past them.

"HAVE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS; IT'S THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR."

The sudden loud singing from the stupid Christmas tree he had stolen the batteries from made him jump what seemed ten feet from his skin.

Wilbur grabbed the tree and tried to turn it off, only to find it was too late.

Cornelius was looking around the room, having been jerked from sleep by the sudden blasting of Chris the Singing Christmas Tree's vocals. He looked behind him, and Wilbur grinned nervously as he replaced Christ the Singing Christmas Tree on his pedestal.

"Wilbur!" Cornelius said. He jumped up and shook Franny. "Franny, wake up, Wilbur's back."

"Wilbur?" Franny asked as she sat up, looking towards her son. As soon as she laid eyes on him, she was at him, hugging him so tightly Wilbur was sure he was turning blue.

"Wilbur Robinson, where have you been?!" She asked, finally releasing her son and stepping back, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"Um…2007?" Wilbur said, grinning, trying to look innocent.

"And what were you doing in 2007?" Franny asked.

"Uh…visiting Lewis?" Wilbur tried again.

"When you know you're not allowed to use the time machine?" Franny said.

Ooh, she had him there.

"Yeah." Wilbur said, sighing in defeat. "Look, I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Other than taking the time machine, you mean?"

Wilbur winced. His mother was right, as always.

"Aw, Franny, don't be too hard on him." Cornelius said. "He was only trying to wish Lewis merry Christmas."

Franny whirled around and poked her husband in the chest. "Don't you side with him, Cornelius Robinson. You know what he did was wrong. I told you giving him a time machine of his own wasn't a good idea!"

Franny immediately realized what she had said and slapped her hand over her face as Wilbur's eyes widened.

"Whoa, wait." He said. "I'm getting my own time machine?!"

"It was supposed to be your Christmas gift from your mother and I." Cornelius explained. "It was supposed to be a surprise."

Franny smiled apologetically. "Sorry." She said.

"My own time machine?" Wilbur questioned again. He was beginning to wonder if he was dreaming.

Cornelius chuckled at the look on his son's face. "Yes, your own time machine. That way, you can stop stealing mine and the prototype can go back into the time lab."

"Seriously?!" Wilbur said. "My own time machine?"

"There are some ground rules, however, young man." Franny said. "Like you're not to use it to do anything your father and I wouldn't approve of, like going back to make sure you don't do something that could get you in trouble. As for going to see Lewis, I guess that's fine, as long as you tell us next time, or at least leave a hologram telling us."

Wilbur nodded. "I can do that, Mom, I swear!" He said.

"Mm hm." Franny said.

Silence came between the three for a minute as Wilbur looked at the ground.

"So, uh…am I grounded?" He asked.

Franny and Cornelius looked at each other.

"No, you're not grounded." Cornelius said. "I don't think grounding you on Christmas is fair, and you were only trying to make Lewis's Christmas special so…no, you're not grounded."

Wilbur grinned. "Thanks, Dad!"

"But—" His mother interjected. "Pull something like that, again, young man, and you'll be grounded til you die."

Wilbur winced again. He could hear the seriousness in Franny's voice.

"Now, what do you say we wake up the rest of the family?" Cornelius asked, putting his arm around Franny. "It is Christmas morning, after all."

Wilbur nodded. "You said it!"

Franny laughed. "I'll go wake up the family." She said. "Meanwhile, you boys head up to the lab and get Wilbur's gift out. Now that he knows I don't think it's fair to keep him waiting any longer."  
"Sure thing, honey." Cornelius said, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." She said, smiling back.

"Okay, if the PDA fest is over…" Wilbur interrupted, "Can we please get back to Christmas?"

His parents laughed.

"Oh, and here are the family albums." Wilbur said, digging into his backpack and bringing out the old photo album.

"You had them?" Franny asked.

Before she could ask any more questions, Cornelius put his hand on Wilbur's shoulder. "I'll explain everything later, honey." He promised. "Just go wake up the rest of the family. We'll be back down in a minute."

Franny nodded and turned around. Cornelius and Wilbur did the same, walking towards the lab.

After entering the lab, Cornelius walked over to the shelf that sat above his old desk, removing a tiny wrapped box. He handed it to Wilbur.

"We had to shrink it to get it out of lab." He said when he noticed the look of question on his son's face. "Go ahead, open it."

Wilbur eagerly tore at the paper, opening the tiny box to reveal a tiny, thumb sized time machine. It looked just like the red prototype time machine, but it had a black paintjob, and even though it was tiny, Wilbur could see the Captain Time Travel upside-down lightning bolt planted on the steering wheel and on the side of the door.

"Thanks, Dad." Wilbur said, grinning up at his father.

Cornelius ruffled his son's hair. "You're welcome son." He said. "You can try it out later. I've already given it a test run, ensuring that it's not going to blow up or anything, and it works just fine."

Wilbur cocked an eyebrow. "Is this one crash-resistant?"

Cornelius laughed. "Wilbur, for you, nothing is crash-resistant."

"Ouch." Wilbur said. "That hurts, buddy."

Cornelius laughed again. "Why don't you go put it and your backpack in your room? We'll un-Cupidize it later. Right now, it sounds like the rest of the family is up."

The sound of Chris the Singing Christmas Tree singing, Gaston shooting himself out of his cannon, and Laszlo's paint gun going off and Tallulah screaming in anger confirmed this idea.

Wilbur nodded. "Room right, got it." He said. "Merry Christmas, Dad."

"Merry Christmas, son." Cornelius said as Wilbur bolted down the stairs to his room. He surveyed his room for a moment, trying to find a safe place for him to put the tiny time machine for the moment, before finally deciding his bedside table was the safest place. He hit the button on his wall that would take him to the second level of his room, stepping onto the Lev Platform. He carefully walked over to his beside table and placed the time machine gingerly on it.

"Hm…wait a minute!" He said. "The walkie-talkie!"

He dumped his backpack on his bed and rummaged through it, bringing out the walkie-talkie. He sat it next to the time machine, as a reminder to put it in the glove box later.

"There we go." He said. "Merry Christmas, Lewis."

With that, he walked back over to the Lev Platform and pressed the button, running out the door as soon as it was on the ground again, towards the living room where the rest of his family waited.

* * *

**Okay, whoever guessed it was a time machine that Wilbur was getting for Christmas, you get a cookie! **

**Thanks again to everyone who stayed loyal to this story, no matter how long it took me to update it. :) I really couldn't have done it without you guys!**

**Merry belated Christmas, everyone! **

**Oh, and can you believe we're celebrating over a year of _Meet the Robinsons _already?! Seriously, where did the time go...**

**-Robin**


End file.
